Province says it has made no commitment to move Queen Street courthouse in Brantford

The Ministry of the Attorney General has not made any decisions about moving the courthouse to the old city hall, a ministry spokesperson says.

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Keesha Seaton said in an e-mail to The Expositor that the ministry has made no commitment to move the existing Ontario Court of Justice at 44 Queen St. to the old city hall building on Wellington Street.

Seaton sent the email in response to an Expositor article announcing that the city is selling the old city hall at 100 Wellington to a private company. The conditional sale was approved at an Oct. 15 special city council meeting.

City officials said the former city hall is being sold to the current owner of the 44 Queen St. property. Under the plan, which was discussed openly at council, the courthouse at 44 Queen St. will be moved to the old city hall on Wellington Street.

Told of the ministry’s comments, Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis said the ministry’s response is not surprising.

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The mayor said the ministry is negotiating with their current and possible future landlord – the private corporation – regarding the lease terms for the old city hall.

“At the city, we are doing everything we can to assist in those lease negotiations,” Davis said. “We have been discussing take over of the old city hall with the Attorney General for over four years.

“The Attorney General did a feasibility study three years ago that confirmed old city hall would be an ideal location for a new court house.”

The mayor said that if the private company and the ministry are unable to finalize a lease, the city can take back the city hall property.

The mayor believes the province is reluctant to invest capital money in court facilities and would prefer, instead, to have those costs amortized over a much longer time frame by having them included into the operating budget through increased yearly leasing costs.

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Speaking at the Oct. 15 council meeting, Davis called the deal exciting.

Davis said as a lawyer he is quite familiar with the courthouse at 44 Queen St. He said it is totally inadequate for the community.

“This is taking the old city hall, which has the physically imposing presence of a courthouse, and this, probably, is one of the highest and best uses of the property.”

Davis said for those involved in the court system and the administration of justice the former city hall will be a much better court house.

“It will be much more efficient, it will probably lead to cases being tried more quickly,” Davis said. “It will also allow for a unified family court, a Gladue court and hopefully a diversion court for drug treatment because there will be space for the program which they don’t have in the current location.”

The plan will result in much-improved access to justice system and putting a building that has “excellent bones” to good use, Davis said.

A Gladue court is a specialized court that handles cases of Indigenous persons charged with a criminal offense.

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